Even though I own a Rotel cdp with a Wolfson WM8740 dac chip and now I'm using a stand-alone dac with an ESS Sabre ES9038Q2M (LMNOP Ha!) I couldn't review and compare and contrast the differences, since in both cases the dac chips are surrounded by other components (even for the stand-alone dac there are op-amps that may influence how the dac ultimately "sounds.")
But, I'll say this: I remember having a Peachtree Audio Nova years ago (that I sold) that had an ESS Sabre dac in it, and *that* amplifier seemed to offer-up a bit more detail and a bit more clarity than the current stand-alone Sabre dac. (The stand-alone is the Topping D-50, which sounds "warmer" and "smoother" than I was expecting).
However, I *do* appreciate how the Topping D-50 renders the tone and timbre of a grand piano in a jazz trio context, compared to the onboard Wolfson dac implemented in the Rotel cdp (which to me didn't do as good a job at rendering a more believable and convincing acoustic grand piano sound like the Topping D-50 does).
Would be nice to have that same model Peachtree Audio Nova at hand so that I could make an A/B comparison, now.
What I was hoping to be getting from the Topping D-50 when I ordered it was the crystal clarity of what I remember from the Peachtree unit.
Apologize for the ramble, cincyjim. Just sharing my experience and making the point that when discussing this subject, we "get into the weeds" real quick with few cut-and-dried answers. And, it seems like with my experience, the more I was learning, the more I was realizing just how much was left to be learned.
And, I'm just scratching the surface as far as this subject goes, compared to many here!
